This two-record vinyl
boot must have sold a million copies, because it seems that just about everyone
used to have one. The sound quality is really nice considering the audience
recording technology of 1971. Neil is quite talkative, and his
"comedy" on "Sugar Mountain" is hilarious. I consider this
show essential to a live Neil Young collection.

This is from
mint-condition records; I was told they'd been played only six times. Still,
you'll notice the vinyl noise -- boots in that era were not exactly
high-quality pressings. Still, it's pretty minor, I think. No effort has been
made to "clean it up" -- this is how it would have sounded if you
were bringing one home from a head shop in 1971. This recording has never
emerged among collectors from a non-vinyl source.

How do you like your
cake? With the cream on top and oozing from the sides when you take a bite?
Some of us like cake for cake’s sake. When Neil Young walked on stage at the
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on February 1, 1971 in Los Angeles, he was alone
without his superstar bandmates Crosby, Stills and Nash. Just his trusty harmonica,
guitar and a grand piano. This was to be the first of many solo tours. This one
was called A Journey Through The Past.

As was his way in the
early days, Young peppered his hour-long performances with only original songs
and daringly so with new songs he’d yet to record. He brimmed with confidence
that his songs were enough to keep people interested. Just a glance at the
setlist for this evening - Old Man, Cowgirl In The Sand, Sugar Mountain, Don’t
Let It Bring You Down - showed songs that he continued to play up till the
present. This evening he even included Ohio, about the four students shot dead
on campus during a student demonstration against America’s war in Vietnam.

He also sang The
Needle And The Damage Done, a painful reminder to himself of the dangers of
drugs. And some say his simple-minded I Am A Child. Although how could anyone
think of Young as simpleton when his other songs, Tell Me Why and See The Sky
About To Rain, all showed he understood just how important love and compassion
were. That sometimes these child-like qualities sure beat brainpower and
intellectual smugness.

There he is, captured
on someone’s portable reel-to-reel deck somewhere from the front rows, changing
from guitar to piano, chatting with the audience and slowly singing his songs
with quiet power. The kind of power that’s found in truthfulness.

1971 was a long time
ago. Who would have thought we would still care for Neil Young’s music? The
person who recorded this show loved the music enough to make the effort. These
days you can buy an expensive hi-fi system for the price of a front-row seat to
watch a show of dubious quality. But crackles and all, this bootleg, taken from
a Rubber Dubber original vinyl, is the real journey through the past. The cake,
so to speak, not the cream that melts away anyway.